ON LOVE; PART MDLXVII
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FIRST IS THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS: “The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:29-31).
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WHAT THEN IS LOVE? In a general sense love is benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. While this IS from an older definition of Charity, which IS rendered in the King James Bible from the same Greek word agape which IS generally rendered as Love, we should amend our own definition here to include the idea that in the reality of Love a man will accord to ALL men ALL things that he would accord to himself and to say that Love IS our thoughts and attitude of the equality of ALL men regardless of their outward nature or appearance…that ALL ARE equally children of Our One God.
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PLUS THE EVER IMPORTANT AND HIGH IDEAL TAUGHT TO US BY THE CHRIST: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them” (Matthew 7:12).
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In the last essay we completed our discussion of the New Testament ideas of faith and works. Our discussion began with Paul’s words which have been erroneously adopted by most ALL of the church, words that tell us that as a person in this world one CAN NOT ‘save’ himself. This idea IS expanded into a doctrine that essentially says that: humans cannot earn their own eternal ‘salvation‘, overcome their inherent sinful nature, or achieve ultimate deliverance through their own “good works“, intellect, or efforts. This IS a patently false doctrine that sets men up for failure and IS largely responsible for the failure of the church at large to follow in the Master’s words. Over the course of our blog posts we have tried to show that this IS a self-serving doctrine that allows men to believe that they ARE ‘saved‘ without ever DOING what IS necessary to actually be saved. We should add to this the reality that the ‘salvation‘ that men seek, to be ‘accepted’ into a place called heaven after death, IS a false target, a chimera if you will, which may keep men attached to the church but IS a meaningless idea that also sets men up for failure. This idea of heaven as such a place IS NOT found in the bible save for the doctrinal ideas gleaned from the Master’s words to one of the malefactors with Him at Calvary saying “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:33, 39, 43). To get the ideas that ARE applied to heaven by Christianity yet today, one must refer to the Old Testament where the the idea IS used in the Septuagint as the Greek word to translate the Garden of Eden. In Jewish theology the idea IS that paradeisos IS: that part of Hades which was thought by the later Jews to be the abode of the souls of the pious until the resurrection 9 as we read in Thayer’s though there IS NO biblical reference for this idea. Other uses of the idea ARE found in Paul’s Second Epistle to the Corinthians and Revelation but neither helps us to understand the doctrinal idea of heaven.
Paul’s use of the idea equates paradeisos with the idea of a third heaven. He tells us that “It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man,(whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter” (2 Corinthians 12:1-4). There IS nothing in these words that helps us to define heaven as the idea IS commonly understood. The reality IS that most ALL religions hold out some kind of salvation and while some DO point to salvation as the result of one’s Life in this Earth, Christianity DOES NOT. Our point here IS that these ideas that a man CAN NOT ‘save’ himself, that he CAN NOT gain heaven after death by his own actions and that heaven IS that place where ‘believers’ go after death ARE ALL doctrinal fabrications that have been pulled together out of whole cloth centuries ago. In Christianity ALL of this began perhaps with the erroneous ideas taken from Paul’s words saying “by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:8-10). This error has expanded into today’s Christianity and IS the reason that the Master’s words saying “Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” (Mark 7:6-7) should be understood to apply to the church yet today.
The basic problem with Christianity today IS simply that it DOES NOT, CAN NOT IS the better idea, ‘save‘ men and this because the whole idea of ‘salvation‘ IS misplaced. The Master DOES NOT teach us what the church holds as doctrine and this reality IS exacerbated by the existence of the many doctrines under the banner of Christianity. Church doctrines, while personalized by the different denominations and sects, bear little resemblance to the teachings of the Christ. Surely there ARE those in the churches that DO repeat some of the more important tenets of the Master, but the wherewithal to DO them as a congregation IS sorely missing. As we often cite, the most basic ideas of the Great Commandments ARE KNOWN by most and ARE included in numerous sermons but their force IS diminished by men’s misunderstanding of the most basic ideas; ideas that have been used by doctrines to to offer tenets that were NOT intended to be such. Much of the problem is found in the defining ideas that ARE applied to the Greek words and through our discussion on faith and works we have highlighted the misapplication of two KEY words: pistis and pisteuo. These ARE understood as faith and believing but the nebulous Christian use of these ideas leaves them without the necessary Power by which the Truth IS shown. As we often show, the reality of these words, pistis and pisteuo, IS shown to us by the Master and while His context IS rather clear, His intent IS missed by most ALL. These two kindred words should be understood in terms of KNOWING and perhaps because this IS such a high bar, the ideas have been diluted to those nebulous doctrinal ideas that border on hope.
This sense of KNOWING IS NOT simply possessing facts, being familiar with someone or something or having a particular skill as the idea IS generally understood; this sense of KNOWING IS NOT involved with such carnal ideas. This KNOWING, in a spiritual sense, it IS certainty, it IS being without doubt, and this IS the way that the Master uses the idea in the gospels. Spiritually this means that we come to KNOW God and that we come to KNOW ourselves and, perhaps most importantly, we KNOW the Truth. In KNOWING the Truth we DO KNOW God and we DO KNOW ourselves and the Master shows us how to DO this in the sayings that have become our trifecta which we repeat here saying:
- “If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 7:21).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me” (John 14:21-24).
To KNOW the Truth we must keep His words, abide in His words IS the better rendering of the first part; it IS this Truth that will set us free from the vanity in which we live. Keeping His words IS, as we discussed in regard to faith and works, IS our works, our “good works” that lead us to KNOWING God. This DOES NOT come easy however; keeping His words IS first the result of our True Repentance our decision to undergo a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose 4 as Vincent defines this for us. Our Repentance puts us onto the Path to keeping His words which IS a like virtuous change in the life and practice 4. While this may seem an arduous task, the reality IS that there ARE but two things that one must DO to qualify as keeping His words and these ARE the precepts of the Great Commandments. The difficult part IS foregoing our lives as men in this world, foregoing our vanity if you will. In Buddhism we learn that it IS desire that must be overcome and this same idea works well in Christianity. It IS desire that keeps us bound to our carnal lives and we should try to understand that desires never cease; when we gain what we desire we tend to desire more. In a way it IS our desires that control our lives and it IS our desires and our lusts that we should try to see in the vanity into which we ARE born. The Master touches upon this idea of giving up our desires as He tells us of the criteria for True discipleship. In the first part of our trifecta we read that to be His True disciple we must keep His words and this IS a fundamental Truth. We should understand the twofold nature of keeping His words according to this saying; keeping His words will make us True disciples and will allow us to KNOW the Truth. When we can understand that these ARE much the same thing, we can perhaps better understand Jesus other words on discipleship saying “whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33).
It IS in our KNOWING that we understand that one must forsake “all that he hath” and while we can point to the Master’s encounter with the rich young man to see the need to give up our possessions, the greater point IS found in our understanding that it IS our desires that must be forsaken. While the Master clearly points out the need to be free from our possessions and our wealth, most ALL DO NOT understand this or, better, refuse to understand it. The church has, from the beginning, found clever ways to interpret such ideas as “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” and this despite the clear language that accompanies this saying “Verily I say unto you, That a rich man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 19:24, 23). ALL of this is tied to our desires and it IS our desires that ARE the paramount reason that the church itself has downplayed the Master’s words from the beginning. We must understand here that this issue of desire IS intimately tied to the Great Commandments; the first commandment clearly tells us that “thou shalt love agapao the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength” (12:30). It IS our desires and those things that result from our desires that take us away from this commandment; we CAN NOT hold our desires as important if “all thy heart, and all thy soul, and all thy mind, and all thy strength” ARE on the Godhead and the things of God.
The Master’s words on discipleship, His criteria for the fullness of discipleship, ARE the reality of the Great Commandments. The words of the Great Commandments ARE ofttimes disputed by parts of the church where they ARE interpreted as the first in number rather than the first in importance based on Mark’s use of the Greek word protos which IS rendered as first. Most fail to see that the Master answers the question using great as we read in the exchange from Mark’s Gospel. “one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love agapao the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love agapao thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28-31). The defining ideas offered by Strong’s tells us that protos IS: foremost (in time, place, order or importance). This agrees with the Master’s answer that “There is none other commandment greater than these” when we see the meaning as foremost in importance. In Luke’s Gospel the Great Commandments ARE offered in a different scene where one asks the Master “what shall I do to inherit eternal life?“. To this question Jesus answers “What is written in the law? how readest thou?” leaving it to the lawyer to provide the answer which he DOES saying “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself” (Luke 10:25, 26-27). What we should see here IS that there were learned Jews that DID understand the Truth of the law over the rote performance that the Master so often rails against.
The church has consistently downplayed the reality of the Master’s words in regard to True salvation in favor of their various doctrinal approaches to the Lord. This they DO because of what they see as the harshness of His commandments and the criteria for True discipleship plays a large role in their theological practices. Few if any see that the reality of His words saying “in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“. This idea of vanity, while from a different Greek word, IS tied to the idea of vanity presented by Paul in his saying that “the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope, Because expectation that the creature itself also shall be delivered made free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:20-21). This sense of vanity IS the essence of our ‘feeling’ human; it plays upon the emotional responses of men and through the illusion and the glamour of being here in this world we find ourselves in a perishable and decaying condition, separate from God, and pursuing false ends 4. We see ourselves as men and women and NOT as Souls which IS our Truer reality. This IS the most basic result of the vanity into which ALL are born and this IS exacerbated by the years of nurturing and indoctrination into being “conformed to this world” (Romans 12:1) that we endure.
Without some modicum of realization of the Truths that ARE rather clearly presented by the Master and His apostles we remain in this vanity, we remain “conformed to this world“. Being a part of a denomination or sect of the church DOES NOTHING to cure this condition, it ONLY slightly alters our level of conformance and places us into a that class of which the Master says “in vain do they worship me“. The situation IS NOT black and white however. There IS the factor of measure which the Master shows us in such sayings as “with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again” (Luke 6:38). This IS a universal statement of fact that operates in both the physical and the spiritual realms of existence. It IS NOT related solely to giving which IS its context in Luke; it IS an add on saying. And it IS NOT related solely to hearing as we read in Mark’s Gospel but rather in the expanded idea of hearing which includes reading and intuiting; in a spiritual sense the latter idea includes the prompting of our own Souls. This idea of measure IS also NOT related solely to judgement as we read in Matthew’s Gospel, it IS again an add on statement of fact. It IS by measure that we grow in most every respect and it IS measure that mediates between being a carnal man in this world and a spiritual one who can be seen as a True disciple of the Christ.
Applying measure to the reality of the Great Commandments and to ALL of the precepts that we ARE shown in the gospels IS the tool by which we move our lives out of the vanity, our individual “bondage of corruption” and into “the glorious liberty of the children of God“. The measure by which we can let ourselves focus on the Lord, which idea we use here to substitute for the idea of Love from the Greek word agapao, will depend the measure of our discipleship. The rendering of agapao as Love creates a level of confusion here in this commandment; through this rendering we see that we CAN NOT Love our family but must Love ONLY the Lord “with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength“. This however IS NOT the intent of the idea. The intent here IS that we agapao the Lord and this IS an idea that the common understandings of Love CAN NOT breach. In the context of this Great Commandment the idea of focus IS a more suitable understanding of agapao and while this DOES NOT work in ALL uses of the word, the results of our focus can. Using this idea of focus on the Lord, of putting our attention upon the Lord, we can see a range that can go from paying NO attention to the things of God to putting our full attention on the things of God. The latter IS the fullness of our discipleship and within this range, from the point of some attention being shared between our carnal selves and the Lord, we can be understood to be aspirants to discipleship.
There IS an important and practical effect here that must be understood. The greater our measure of focus on the things of God the greater the measure of our ability to Truly “love agapao thy neighbour as thyself“. It IS then in the Power of our focus that we fulfill the Great Commandment as we strive to move our lives off of a focus on the self and the things of the self and onto the things of God. This IS the works that we must employ in our carnal lives and it IS through such works that our ability to KNOW God grows; this IS the intersection of faith and works. The two parts of the Great Commandments ARE in essence but one commandment as to fulfill either of these IS to fulfill both. While this may seem difficult to understand, we should be able to see the idea through the reality of agape. In the first commandment we can use the idea of focus in place of Love as the spiritual meaning of agape. In the second of the Great Commandments we should then see the result of this focus through the understanding that to agapao the Lord IS to agapao the neighbor; these ARE inseparable. The Apostle John shows us this saying: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (1 John 4:20-21). While John’s words here ARE a bit cumbersome, they DO give us the reality as a commandment from the Master, that “That he who loveth God love his brother also“. While these words from John ARE NOT among the written words of the Master that we have, they ARE nonetheless compiled from Jesus teachings and sayings. It IS important here to understand that the Greek word adelphos which IS rendered as brother and the Greek word plesion which IS rendered as neighbor have the same meaning in regard to this subject of agape.
The Apostle John DOES NOT use the word plesion in the context of neighbor in his gospel nor in his epistles. He uses the word one time in his gospel with no relation to people and it IS rendered as near. The difference IS simply that when the Greek word IS accompanied by the article, thy, the, etc, it IS rendered as neighbor. This word, plesion should be understood as it IS used; it describes every person or, as Thayer’s shows us, any other person 9. Any attempts to minimize the reality of the neighbor should be seen as efforts to change and nullify the Master’s words and unfortunately this nullification sometimes occurs in Christian denominations and sects. While John DOES not use plesion, he DOES use adelphos frequently and in the same context as the other gospel writers use plesion. This IS similar to the way that Matthew often refers to the Kingdom as the “Kingdom of heaven” while the other gospel writers always use the “Kingdom of God” in the same contexts. Our point IS that these terms, plesion rendered as neighbor and adelphos rendered as brother or brethren ARE intended to be understood in the same way; they both refer to everyman except when the context for adelphos IS actually in regard to a sibling. In John’s words saying “this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” should be understood in the same way as “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself“.
We should try to see that the intent in these ideas of agape, and many of the other ideas that ARE offered in the gospels, ARE to be understood from an individual perspective; they ARE intended to guide us to the Truth through His words but we must realize the import of His words in our own hearts. While the Master’s message in these sayings IS crystal clear to me, others DO NOT have the same realization as in their carnal focus they see such ideas carnally. This IS an important point to consider when looking at the attitudes of others both in and out of the churches. Ideas that ARE clear to those whose focus IS somewhat on the things of God but subject to doctrinal understanding for those whose sense of Truth IS yet centered in their doctrines. Jesus words saying “in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men” ARE intended to counter the effect of doctrines but this has never been successful for the masses. The assumed spiritual authority wielded by those in the churches has overwhelmed the devotions of men and centered their thoughts on the churchianity that IS taught as Truth. This was True in Isaiah’s day, 2000 years ago when Jesus spoke the words as prophecy and it IS True yet today; it is unfortunate that the church has yet to realize their part in “teaching for doctrines the commandments of men“. The idea of the devotions of men brings us back to the topic that we began in the last post, the words of Paul at “Mars’ hill“. There IS much in church doctrines about the conversion of Paul on the road to Damascus and we DID discuss some of the apostle’s Life in the last essay. Our point was to point out Paul the man and the way that he was himself “conformed to this world” as a Pharisee and a Jew who was awakened to a new reality from which he saw the futility of his service to his doctrinal views. While we DO NOT KNOW what actually happened to Paul, we DO KNOW that he was apart from all written record for his three years in Arabia from which he emerged as a disciple of Christ. The text from his time at “Mars’ hill” can give us a flavor of what he had spiritually accomplished. We read again that:
“Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, Ye men of Athens, I perceive that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent” (Acts 17:22-30).
We should understand that the chronology of Paul’s journeys and the length of each IS subject to error and much is presumed based upon the interpretation of ‘scholars’. There ARE large gaps in time including the three years mentioned above in Arabia and nearly 10 years after that where there IS little heard of Paul. The rest of Paul’s journeys are counted as missionary journeys, a doctrinal phrase to be sure. From our perspective today we see Paul as we describe in the last essay, as a Jew and a Pharisee who wholeheartedly acted as a persecutor of those that expressed allegiance to the new form of religion that had descended from the Life of Jesus the Christ. We read of one such encounter with Christians, the name had not yet been assigned, in the story of the Apostle Stephen who was killed by the Jews while Paul either participated or observed. Luke tells us of Paul’s role saying that the Jews “cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep. And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles. And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him. As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison” (Acts 7:58-60, 8:1-3).
As we noted yesterday Paul himself testifies of his making “havock of the church” before there was an actual church and in this we should see that Paul IS merely a man so indoctrinated into the Hebrew religion that he participated in the persecution of those that were considered heretics by the Jewish religious authorities. It IS NOT long after the stoning of Stephen that we read that Paul sought ‘letters‘ from the high priest to DO much the same at Damascus. It IS on the road to Damascus that Paul IS stricken with conscience and while this IS doctrinally understood as his having a vision on the road of Jesus speaking directly to him, this IS but a doctrinal idea. The story told by Luke, while similar to the versions told by Paul himself, reflect Paul’s personal experience of awakening from the carnal mindset that he had held for years and we should try to see that his participation in the killing of Stephen may have been his impetus to change, his motivation to Repent if you will. We will NOT address his blindness on the Road to Damascus nor his interactions with Ananias here save to say that the story is enmeshed in the doctrinal ideas held in those times. The changes that come upon Paul ARE his Repentance which we should understand as: Such a virtuous alteration of the mind and purpose as begets a like virtuous change in the life and practice 4. For Paul it IS a Life’ change that IS perhaps motivated by his final act as a persecuting Pharisee and taking the form of his experience on the road to Damascus.
Paul’s journey IS from a persecutor of Christians to a follower of Christ and we should try to see that in those days followers of the Master saw Him as the Messiah, an appellation that the Jews’ religious leadership refused to apply to Jesus. This refusal IS largely because Jesus spoke against what the Jews had done by following their mitzvah, their doctrines, over the Truth presented by Moses and the prophets. In his three years in Arabia and perhaps the next ten years of which we KNOW nothing Paul was NOT a public figure and while the church assigns his time to doctrinal ideas, there IS little or nothing in Paul’s testimony. And there IS confusion; Paul states that after his ‘conversion’ that he DID NOT go to Jerusalem but went to Arabia while Luke reports that Paul preached immediately at Damascus and went to Jerusalem soon after with NO mention of Arabia. Additionally, Paul states that he went to Jerusalem with Barnabas after 14 years while Luke tells us that this happened soon after his ‘conversion’. Our point here IS simply that we DO NOT KNOW what happened and that perhaps Luke’s telling of the story IS NOT to be understood as it IS presented. What we DO KNOW IS that over this time, the three years in Arabia and the ten years during which there IS little accounting, Paul was being Transformed. Just as Transformation for everyman IS NOT accomplished in an instant, neither was it so for Paul. Paul DID NOT have the benefit of being in the company of the Master and while some of those that DID struggled to overcome their own carnal bondage, they greatly benefited by their close contact. We have but tidbits of information regarding the Master’s words to His disciples and we should understand that in the three years that He was with them, He taught them much much more that we see. John shows us this saying “And there are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25).
Paul’s Transformation was for him as it IS for us, a growth that comes upon us by measure, a growth in which we come ever closer to KNOWING God and it IS this KNOWING that we should see reflected in His words at Areopagus, Mars’ hill as it IS later translated. Regarding Paul’s remarks to the “philosophers of the Epicureans, and of the Stoicks“, we should note that he was invited to speak. Luke tells us of their invitation saying “they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine, whereof thou speakest, is? For thou bringest certain strange things to our ears: we would know therefore what these things mean“. Luke tells us of the curiosity of “the Athenians and strangers which were there” (Acts 17:18,19-20, 21) but more importantly we should note that these ARE philosophers and that the Greeks in those days DID have a sense of religion that gave their ideas of God(s) certain powers as their way of understanding. We should note as well that while there IS scant historical evidence, Judaism can be seen as the first monotheistic religious movement and we repeat here Alexander Maclaren’s words from his exposition of Genesis where he tells us: We are not to look to Genesis for a scientific cosmogony, and are not to be disturbed by physicists’ criticisms on it as such. Its purpose is quite another, and far more important; namely, to imprint deep and ineffaceable the conviction that the one God created all things. Nor must it be forgotten that this vision of creation was given to people ignorant of natural science, and prone to fall back into surrounding idolatry 12. We can perhaps share Mr. Maclarens comments with Paul’s speech at Areopagus as he tries: to imprint deep and ineffaceable the conviction that the one God created all things
We will continue with our thoughts in the next post.
| Aspect | Potency | Aspect of Man | In Relation to the Great Invocation | In relation to the Christ |
| GOD, The Father | Will or Power | Spirit or Life | Center where the Will of God IS KNOWN | Life |
| Son, The Christ | Love and Wisdom | Soul or Christ Within | Heart of God | Truth |
| Holy Spirit | Light or Activity | Life Within | Mind of God | Way |
- 4 Word Studies in the New Testament; Marvin R Vincent D.D. 2nd edition
- 9 Thayer’s Greek Lexicon on blueletterbible.org
- 9a The New Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible on blueletterbible.org
- * Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
- 12 Expositions of Holy Scripture–Project Gutenberg’s and Baker Book House’ Expositions of Holy Scripture, by Alexander Maclaren–(1826-1910)
those who walk on the well-trodden path always throw stones at those who are showing a new road
Voltaire, Writer and Philosopher
